The support for Herman Cain might be finally weaving thin. Opinion polls suggest that the wave of support that lifted the Republican presidential candidate from long shot to unlikely front-runner is breaking, the result of a month of trouble for the businessman.

If the accusation of sexual harassment by four women was not enough, then the policy gaffe when he was caught flat-footed by a routine question about Libya would be enough to ensure that his fate is sealed.

The Cain mental lapse is perhaps more deadly than the one experienced a week ago by fellow White House aspirant, Texas Governor Rick Perry. Perry’s inability to recall one of the three government agencies he would try to eliminate if elected was a spectacular gaffe, but at least he knew the answer, he just couldn’t remember it at the time.

However Mr Cain look dumbfounded when asked whether he agreed with the way President Barack Obama handled the uprising in Libya. The 5 minute interview took the form of nightmare as he tried to give an answer as seconds ticked by in silence.

I gotta go back, see, got all this stuff twirling around in my head, Cain said.

He’s now in a perfect storm of political and policy problems. He’s dealing with sexual allegations and at the same time that he cannot answer a basic foreign policy question. That is very deadly to a primary voter who is looking for someone to take on President Obama in 2012, said Republican strategist Ron Bonjean.

Herman Cain struggles on personal, policy fronts

Report by Adhir Roy Chowdury